Kanosue, K. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2026

Greater gray matter volume in somatosensory and parietal regions in elite skiers compared with other athletes

Elite athletes exhibit sport-specific neural adaptations, yet it remains unclear whether such changes reflect general effects of training or the unique demands of individual sports. Skiing requires postural control and whole-body coordination under dynamically unstable environments, placing high demands on somatosensory processing and sensorimotor integration. The present study aimed to identify structural brain characteristics specific to elite skiers by comparing them with athletes from other sports disciplines and non-athletes. T1-weighted MRI data were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry in 13 skiers, 23 non-ski control athletes and 25 non-athletes. Whole-brain analysis comparing skiers with non-ski athletes revealed a significant cluster showing greater gray matter volume in skiers compared with non-ski athletes in the left postcentral gyrus, extending into the superior parietal lobule. The identified cluster primarily encompassed cytoarchitectonic Areas 2 and 5L. These regions are involved in higher-order somatosensory processing and multisensory integration. Importantly, region-of-interest analysis demonstrated that gray matter volume within this cluster was greater in skiers compared with non-ski athletes and non-athletes, with no difference between non-ski athletes and non-athletes. These findings highlight the relative prominence of structural adaptations within somatosensory-parietal networks, reflecting the unique integration of proprioceptive and other sensory information required for elite skiing. Overall, these findings provide evidence for sport-specific structural brain differences in elite athletes and highlight the importance of somatosensory and parietal regions in sensorimotor integration relevant to skiing. These findings may have implications for understanding neural markers of expertise and may inform future approaches to training and performance evaluation in skiing.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Martial arts training is related to implicit intermanual transfer of visuomotor adaptation

Recent work identified an explicit and implicit transfer of motor learning with one limb to the other untrained limb. Here we pursue the idea that different individual factors differently contribute to the amount of explicit and implicit intermanual transfer of sensorimotor adaptation. In particular we tested a group of judo athletes who show enhanced right-hemispheric involvement in motor control and a group of equally trained athletes as control participants. After adaptation to a 60{degrees} visual rotation, we estimated awareness of the perturbation and transfer to the untrained, non-dominant left hand in two experiments. We measured the total amount of intermanual transfer (explicit plus implicit) by telling the participants to repeat what was learned during adaptation and the amount of implicit transfer by instructing the participants to refrain from using what was learned but to perform movements as during baseline. We found no difference between the total intermanual transfer of judokas and running experts, with mean absolute transfer values of 42.4{degrees} and 47.0{degrees}. Implicit intermanual transfer was very limited but larger in judo than in general sports athletes, with mean values of 5.2{degrees} and 1.6{degrees}. A multiple linear regression analysis further revealed that total intermanual transfer, which largely represents the explicit transfer, is related to awareness of the perturbation while implicit intermanual transfer can be predicted by judo training, amount of total training, speed of adaptation and handedness scores. The findings are discussed in relation to neuronal mechanisms such as hemispheric interactions and functional specialization underlying intermanual transfer of motor learning.

neuroscience↗